TGOW - lenses Flashcards
Psychoanalytic approach
Tom Joad carries an internal conflict form when he killed a man, he is constantly trying to repress his emotions about it - He struggles to juggle his survial instinct and raw emotions with his morality and responsibility.
Its critique of the American dream shows the ideology of the unconscious where characters pursue survival and prosperity whilst grappling with disillusionment
Feminist approach
Ma subverting traditional stereotypes with her being the matriarchal figure in the family (from patriarchal to matriarchal)
Male characters lose control - Uncle John’s guilt about his wife/Pa Joad with Noah’s birth
Ma demonstrates women’s unpaid labour as well as emotional labour in holding the family together
Rose of Sharon goes from passive to holding power - her body being a source for a starving man at the end of the novel
In the grapes of wrath there is a quiet revolution of gender roles
Marxist lens
The novel at it’s core is about the exploitation of the proletariat by the bourgeoisie
The dehumanisation of the banks being referred to as “monsters” highlights the Marxist idea that capital as a autonomous and oppressive force
Workers are alienated - their identity is stripped from them as all their possessions are burnt etc
Workers are kept in line through a false class consciousness - through fear/competitions and misinformation
Steinbeck emphasises the need for communal/mutual aid as an alternative for capitalism.
Historical lens (context)
The Grapes of Wrath can be read as a literary documentary where Steinbeck humanizes the statistics and headlines, transforming history into a deeply personal and urgent narrative (The Great Depression/the dustbowl/”okie” migration/labour and class struggle/capitalist exploitation/New Deal & Federal camps)
Religious lens
Jim Casy as a Christ-like figure - initials (J.C) and him sacrificing himself
Biblical Allusions - the Promised land /Exodus - spiritual pilgrimage
Christian ethic of selflessness - Ma Joad and Rose of Sharon
Rose of Sharon symbolising the virgin mother archetype - saving something
Steinbeck does not promoted institutional religion, but rather he promotes practical live spirituality - acts of compassion/resistance to injustice/Faith within one another
